Previously there was supposed to be a big jump in 2016 in the academic requirements to be eligible to play college sports:
http://tinyurl.com/n25ozlp

With the new release, the academic limits, including the sliding scale, will go unchanged, however, for those with grades at the lower end of the scale, they will be required to redshirt their first year:
http://tinyurl.com/ndwm4k4

If the previously announced higher standards had gone into effect, there would have been a big growth in the JUCO system, since even more kids would have ended up there. What this change did was basically to preserve the status quo as far as the size of the JUCO system, and who goes there, but it also raises academic standards, too, in a less direct way.

Kids that got in before will still get in, and kids that went to JUCO before will still need to go to JUCO. The difference is that a portion of those that get in will no longer have the option of playing as a Freshman because it raises the academic requirement necessary to actually play.

Increasing scholarship limits causes all kind of Title IX problems and from what I've been told by those more knowledgeable then I on the topic, it's not likely to happen. Also, the weak sisters of the Snob5 might raise a howl, because they don't want Alabama, O$U, Texas, etc. hording all of the good players, either. The Northwesterns of the P5 still want an occasional shot at conference title. Raising the scholarship limits makes that less and less likely.

Not entirely. The one problem I see with the current limits of 85 total, 25 per year is that those two numbers don't go together. With about half the players ending up in school for 5 years, in theory if you took 25 a year you'd end up with 112 on scholarship. Of course you lose some to attrition (injuries, transfers, academics, etc), but you also add some due to walkons. Using some JUCOs also reduces the number.

The result is that the 85 limit, combined with the 25 per year limit encourages schools to encourage attrition, meaning suggesting to a player that he transfer. They oversign, then encourage players to leave that don't look like future starters. I don't think that's a good thing. I think that if he wants to transfer, fine, but if not, he shouldn't be pushed into it.

One way to address this would be to increase the cap from 85. A better way would be to reduce the number that they can give out per year from 25, to perhaps 22.

Since it's a matter of time before the P5 get their scholarship limits increased, here's an idea: make it optional, but for any school that opts into the increased limits, all players must redshirt their freshman year.

The trade-off is the other schools may then be more attractive to more skilled freshmen, since they could see playing time a year earlier than at the opting-in schools. That's a year earlier on the field, and an extra year to impress pro scouts.

Thanks for "clarifying" my remarks. It's a new role for you. ;-)